XO Pallin
by Jedi Tc
Summary: Commander Shepard has a free night, without her crew. Sitting in Choras working on getting drunk, C-Sec XO Venari Pallin walks through the doors. But he doesn't seem to be there of the same reasons.


_Authors Note:_ I wrote the basis for this fic sometime last year. I wrote it from beginning to end on one week. It was sort of a challenge I did for myself. I changed alot. To the better, I hope.

The idea is inspired of another fanfic I read here on the site. I don't remember the story name, or author. Stupid me.

This is another adventure in the life of Kitten Mac Shepard.

Sorry for the worthless title, Frankly I just wanted to publish it and label it "finished" :)

Enjoy, I hope!

* * *

**XO Pallin**

She was in on her fifth drink, chillin in Choras Den. For once she'd left her squad mates back at the Normandy. Normally she preferred having people around her while going out, but tonight was different. It just felt like she had to kick back on her own. No familiar faces. No one to call her commander.

While she did appreciate the new title of Spectre, it had been a hell of a gear change. Of course her name had been known throughout the Alliance before. Military personnel made a note of her when she arrived on the scene. Even Generals and Admirals knew her name without fault.

But being a Spectre brought the attention of the other species military as well.  
Being the first _human_ Spectre brought the attention of the media. And she didn't have a very… cinematic personality. She got things done, she kicked ass, it wasn't always pretty. Alliance knew this, they had accepted her way of doing things as long as she stuck to basic orders. But media had decided to question her allegiance. Did she swear loyalty to the council? Which would annoy the hell out of humans. Or was her loyalty to the Alliance? Which pissed off any other species.  
At least Andersson had thanked her for not punching the lights out of the reporters.

So why choose Choras Den for relaxation? Surely there were better places at the presidium. Places she would've been guaranteed to be left alone. To be truly.. relaxed. With white walls, classic music, red carpets, silverware and gold plated chandeliers.  
Problem was the sentence 'this is why we can't have nice things' was often repeated in her presence, to her person. Behaving wasn't on her priority list. And besides all that, she hated to be alone.  
Choras also gave her the perk of free drinks. Why?

A few weeks ago she heard that one of the bartenders had a large gambling debt. She agreed to help and as it turned out the debt was owed to a krogan. Your run of the mill violence-solves-everything, krogan.  
When she arrived to his 'office', a shady apartment decorated with an arsenal of varying firearms, she couldn't do anything but hold her head high and be ready to reach for her gun. But the krogan stood up, impressed of her bravery and challenged her to a fist fight. If she won, the debt would be settled and the man left alone, if she lost.. well she might be dead and the debt still stood. What could she do but agree? Reach for her weapon? No, Shepard was just as intrigued by the idea herself. Who could pass up a fist fight with a krogan?

Bruised and badly beaten (you try having a fist fight with someone twice your size and with regenerative powers) she ended up on the floor. But instead of a finishing blow she found a hand stretched out to her.  
The krogan liked her guts and honest fighting, so instead of getting killed she found a friend. The debt was settled.

And that was why she was sitting here, sipping free drinks with a bartender happily serving her.  
For once she'd left her armour back at the ship, though she was still wearing Alliance standard uniform. Slimmed down like hell so it could fit inside the armour. So wearing that and with her two millimeter buzz cut of her jet black hair she still looked like a jarhead from the Alliance. Which she was rather pleased with.

She had taken seat by the first table to your left as you entered Choras. Partially because she didn't fancy any peculiar view of the dancers occupying the tables to the right. But mostly because she could see basically the whole room from here, and keep an eye on who entered and left.

So half through her fifth free drink someone worthy of interest stepped through the doors. It was a face she didn't expect to see here. It wasn't really a face she expected to see anywhere. But he walked in and looked around as if he'd been here before. Casual, calm, a patron looking for company. Completely natural.  
Shepard raised an eyebrow, surprised that even the top brass of C-Sec could move about in a place like this as if he belonged.

"And here I thought I was the only Hot Shot here tonight." She said as he passed her table, calling for his attention. He stopped and turned, apparently equally surprised to see her.  
"Commander Shepard." He confirmed.  
"Take a seat." She nodded towards the chair opposite to her. He made a sweep of the place before he decided to take up on the offer.  
"Why not." He said and sat down at the small round glass table.

Shepard called on the attention of the bartender and signed for her to bring drinks for both her and her guest. She received a thumbs up.  
"Not that I'm the right one to judge, but this isn't really the place for someone of your.. stature. Makes me curious." She said and started to chug down the last of her drink before the new arrived.  
"You've never seen a cop in a bar before?"  
The reply took Shepard by surprise and with a sudden laugh into the glass she caused droplets of blue liquor to splash out a little bit of everywhere. She put the drink know down with a cough.  
"Sorry." She waved the accident away. "But I really don't think of a cop when I look at you."  
Pallin leaned forward folding his hands together, loosening his shoulders and taking another look around.

The bartender came up with the drinks and Shepard took them from her serving tray so she could take the empty glass and disappear without lingering.  
"Here." She placed the other drink in front of Pallin while starting on her own.  
"There's no need-" He tried to wave the offer away, without much luck.  
"Don't worry, I'm not buying. I drink for free here. But be careful." She raised a finger. "She always spike my drinks."  
"How did you score free drinks in this place?" He asked and raised the glass to smell it with a sceptic look.  
"Ah, not too hard really. Just a fist fight with a krogan. Nothing I'd recommend really. But tell me, XO. I bet you're not here for the same reasons as I am."  
"I might be." He said and put down the glass, still holding on to it. Looking into her bright blue eyes. The woman chuckled.  
"If you were, we'd wrap this up in a few minutes and get a room." She winked with a smile.  
He was a bit surprised at her unrestrained way of talking. When she first visited his office she'd kept it official. So this was the difference between on and off duty with humans. He chose to smile and brush the comment off.  
"Alright, maybe not entirely the same reasons."  
"Might it have anything to do with someone with long dark blue hair, slim, white skinned, dressed in black, dark eyed nervous person who constantly checks their Omnitool..? A human."

Pallin stared at her, mouth slightly open and mandibles moving.  
"Right on the first guess, huh?"  
"Have you seen him?" He leaned over the table, putting his weight on his elbows.  
"Or her. Take a sip and I'll tell you." She nodded against the glass with a wry look on her face.  
"I don't drink when I'm on duty." He responded with a reluctant voice.  
"You're not on duty." She challenged him and leaned back in her seat.

They had a staring contest for a few moments before he capitulated and tried a sip. He looked at it, surprised.  
"This is actually good."  
"Better be. I didn't get beaten half to death for piss."  
"Not just drinkable, but actually tasty. I didn't know they even served things like this here. Or knew how to tell the difference."  
"Now, to our mystery with blue hair." She held the drink in her right hand and pointed at him at the same time. "While this place is crawling with your average shady crook and nervous junkies, there are some who just... stand out. Not part of the usual crowd, you know."  
"Get to it commander."  
"Hey, I'm almost drunk. No matter what you say, XO, I'll still take my sweet time on this." Mostly to annoy him she took another swallow. "Just about, ooh say, 73 minutes ago, your blue manwoman came in here. A bit lost, a bit nervous. She-he's out in the back, talking to whoever took over after Fist, I suppose."  
"73 minutes?"  
"Just about."  
"Then Intel was right." He looked towards the back and continued on the drink. Two men stood watch. Not visibly armed, but he had no doubt there were guns nearby. And more people in the back.  
"Intel?" She smiled and traced her lower lip with her thumb. "Well, this is sounding more and more interesting."  
"Is there another way out from that back room?"  
"Probably." She answered and shrugged. "But I don't think they'd let first time customers use it. What is all this about? Come on, you can tell me. I won't spill your secrets to anyone." She added when he gave her a sceptic hesitating look.  
"We got word of a possible terrorist attack. C-Sec judge it to be a low risk but I wanted to check it out."  
"What's the target?"  
"A Turian politician."  
"Well heads up, here comes your blue manwoman."

Pallin glanced over at the back and after a few seconds the person did appear.  
"The entire bar is in your way, how did see it?"  
"Oh this place have many shiny reflective surfaces. Just know where to look and you can practically see every part of this bar."  
The man made his way across the floor and seemed just as nervous and paranoid as before. Perhaps even more so. Almost the same moment the guy passed the doors, Pallin got up from his seat and started to follow.

"Wait!" Shepard called and tried to grab him but missed. She cursed, loudly. Then turned her attention to her Omnitool to quickly maneuver through the menus. When satisfied she grabbed her drink and followed the turian. He hadn't gotten far and as the doors closed behind her she threw the half full glass by the wall next to him. It shattered to a thousand pieces. Pallin jumped at the sound and turned towards her. His face crossed with anger since she had also drawn the attention of the mystery.. manwoman.

"Hey!" She screamed, too loud for any normal conversation. "Just because _you_ decided to dump _me_ doesn't mean I fucking approve of it!" She kept her voice as high and drunk as could be expected from a wasted ex girlfriend. She walked up to the somewhat confused turian. He raised a hand and his voice but before and words came out she shoved him into the wall.  
The manwoman was watching them. Slowly walking over the bridge leading to the wards.  
To make the scene complete Shepard proceeded to pin the turian against the wall, leaned forward, got up on her toes, and kissed him. He was surprised, to say the least. But he didn't push her away. Partially because she was a lot stronger than he thought and held his arms in an iron grip against the wall. When she broke off the kiss she hovered close to his face and asked in a low voice.  
"Is he gone?"  
"What? Oh-yes."

She let him go and turned to see for herself that the coast was clear. She walked up to the ledge and put her hands on it.  
"How personal is this?" She asked, turning her head towards him again.  
"What-"  
"Don't try it XO." She cut him off and turned around. Completely sober, it would seem. "You, mister goody two shoes who told me the very first time I spoke with you that you never had to break the law doing your job, _not even once_." She crossed her arms. "Now you're here, outside work hours and blowing the easiest stake out ever. Don't tell me this isn't personal."  
That's when he realised she wasn't talking about what just happened, what she just did. He walked up to the ledge next to her and grabbed it. He looked down at the passing cars and sighed.

"The politician who's the target... She's a friend of mine. A very good friend of mine."  
"_Friend_?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and leaned against the rail next to him.  
"A very good friend."  
"Come on." She tilted her head.  
"We grew up together, served together, even joined C-Sec together. She _is_ a friend. And a damn good one to."  
"Alright, I get it. Like a sister, right? I can relate to that." Raising her arm she fiddled a bit with her Omnitool. "Well, let's go then." She said when she was done.  
"What? Where?" He turned his head towards her and stood up straight.  
"After your manwoman. Or would rather get that room?" She chuckled at his expression and started towards the nearest elevator.  
Palin shook his head, not entirely without amusement. He also found his eyes, completely involuntarily of course, tracing the outline of her hips. He shook his head harder and caught up to her.  
"What are you planning exactly? We can't get the information of where he went from the elevator. Not without proper warrant."  
"I guess you don't know that I have a quarian on board my ship." She smirked and activated her Omnitool. "This little baby can do things that'll make you blush. And some useful stuff as well."

The orange interface remained activated and within a three meter radius it illuminated a thin trail of orange smoke hanging in the air. She raised her hand with the Omnitool.  
"I tagged his Omnitool. The trail will remain about ten minutes."  
"That's stalking, commander."  
"Uh-huh. And every useful. This one." She said as she followed the trail into an elevator. Pallin followed her and closed the door behind them.  
"Welcome, officer Pallin." The automated voice of the elevator spoke. "Where would you like to go?"  
Shepard raised an eyebrow and looked at the turian.  
"Perks of the trade." He explained, amused by her reaction and satisfied that he managed to surprise her, for once.  
"Well well. Let's go up then."  
"Up." He confirmed and the elevator started.

Shepard leaned back and crossed her arms, Pallin did the same.  
She kept her eyes on the trail, ready for any change of direction. He watched her, this woman who had suddenly decided to take his problem into her own hands. After the commander was appointed a Spectre he had checked up upon her. Read evaluation and listened to the rumours. It was said she had a hard time keeping to her own business. Always butting in everywhere when she got the chance. Well, so far he couldn't argue with that.  
When it it came to military evaluations it seemed she could be reckless at times. Play fast and loose with orders, yet always getting things done. Even when the odds seemed impossible. He had to admit that her accomplishments were impressive.  
Had the fame and responsibility of being a Spectre changed her in any way? Not that he could tell.

"Commander."  
"Hmm?"  
"When you visited my office the first time. You had your squad with you, one of them a woman."  
"Yeah, Williams."  
"When I called humans the council's new pet she said you had to fight for every piece of power you got."  
"Yeah I remember." She smiled. "And you said to not expect the rest of you to just sit back and let us take it."  
"I remember you smiling to that response. I never quite figured out why."  
"Cause you're right." She shrugged. "You know what we did 200 years ago? Nuked our own planet. Wiped two cities off the face of the earth. And we're _still_ dealing with the fallout. We haven't even been in council space for fifty years and now we demand a place on the council. My mom still remember the times when we didn't even know aliens existed. Now we wanna rule them." Shepard shook her head with a smile.  
"So you don't believe your race is ready for a seat on the council?"  
"I'll bet you a million credits that if we get a seat on that council." She pointed at him. "It's because of military prowess."  
Pallain raised a hand. "I'm not arguing against you on that one." He took a look at the route they were on and frowned. "Are you sure this is right."  
"Hundred-and-ten percent sure."  
"Hmm." He kept looking at the graph and settled into a somewhat disturbed facial expression.  
"What is it?"  
"Hrrm… The elevator seems to be heading towards the persidium."  
"Yeah, so?"  
"More specifically… A VIP district. Top politicians, ambassadors, the consort…"  
"Nice. He'll be easy to track down then."  
Pallin kept his expression of concern.

The elevator stopped and Shepard followed the trail without hesitation. Palling looked around carefully while following her. The walkways were mostly empty. In this neighborhood people kept to their own property. The surroundings were beautiful. Green trees, white walkways, grassy areas, glass railings and waterways built into the landscape.  
Houses were large with equally large gardens. Most likely designed by celebrities in the architectural world. There were no question that these were million-credit villas. Having a garden on a space station that held 13 million people most be a complete luxury.

"There he is." Shepard said, deactivating the program on the Omnitool and stopping just around the block.  
They had a good and clear overview of the person who was still checking over the shoulder every once in a while. They watched the manwoman stop, take a look around then entering a gate and heading up the pavement to one of the villas. Pallin frowned with concern.

"Come on." Shepard nodded and started to follow the street.  
"Commander, wait!" He called and she stopped to turn.  
"What is it?"  
"That's a diplomats villa."  
"So?" She asked and just kept walking down the street. The turian had to act quickly to catch up with her.  
"Don't you humans understand the concept of 'diplomatic immunity'?"  
"Oooh, that crap." She peered up at the villa and smirked, which worried Pallin. "Well XO. Call your people." She started down the road towards the gate.  
"What? The hell do you think you're doing?" He followed her. "You set one foot inside that gate and you're breaking the law."  
She chuckled.  
"I _am_ the law. Now do what the Spectre tells you and call your people." She stopped and met his eyes. "Or don't you want your friend safe?"  
She kept eye contact until he gave up his resistance and raised his omni-tool to call for help. When he later joined her by the gate he almost hissed at her.  
"Do you know how many regulations you're going to violate?"  
"Hopefully all of them. Come on." She opened the gate and walked straight up to the house.  
"Well they'll know we're coming." Pallin stated as he took post at one side of the door, Shepard laughed a short laugh.  
"No, they'll know _someone_ is coming. They won't expect it to be _me_."  
"And you're unarmed."  
She raised her arm and had her biotic powers charged up to a barrier, shimmering and settling with a low noise.  
"When you're a biotic, you're never unarmed. And lets take care of this door." Shepard fiddled with her Omnitool, held it up towards the door and it started beeping. The beet started off slow but started to pick up pace. "What the signal is clear the lock will blow. Get ready!"

The both of them moved to each side of the door and waited for the beat to reach an even signal. Pallin shook his head, took out his weapon and checked the sky for patrol cars, not yet. The sound pitched high and and then the electronic lock blew open the door.

They rushed inside and immediately looked for cover. Their welcoming committee consisted of humans with guns, droids with guns and two turrets mounted at the ceiling. Shepard warped one of the before taking cover behind a wall and shouted for Pallin to take aim on it, the proceeding to easing the fire they received by lifting at least 4 enemies of the ground with her biotics.

"Do you always treat your missions like a rush job?" He shouted over the fire while waiting for his shield to recharge.  
"I like to improvise." She shouted back and laughed, then popping out to launch another biotic attack. Pallin picked off one of the turrets and at the same time they heard the sirens from C-Sec patrol cars. "That was quick!" She grinned.  
"Don't underestimate my people."  
"I'm gonna try something. Keep em busy."  
"What are you-"

But it was already to late, the commander was already rushing up the stars that had been to her left. Palling held his position and soon there came more officers from C-Sec to back him up. After that it was only a matter of time before the situation came under his control and the enemy was overrun. When the last of them fell someone suddenly sprinted from a hiding place. But not towards them, but out the back trying to escape. Pallin instantly took up chase through the house. But this person knew that place far better than him and was half across the lawn when he finally reached the exit.

As he took his first step outside a shower of glass landed in front of him. Closely followed by Shepard.

She dropped and rolled as she hit the ground and were up on her feet, running, before Palling realised what happened. He raised his pistol but didn't have a clear shot of the person in blue running away. He lowered it and took a few steps to the side, snorting in frustration before starting off towards the two.

Shepard charged up her biotic and threw the blue person to the ground. The hood came off and he fell to the ground. He, because now it was clear that it was a man they had been chasing. By the time Shepard caught up with him he had gotten up on his feet and pulled a knife.

"Oh bitch please." She shouted, clearly annoyed. Focusing on the man and his movements it was clear that this wasn't a situation he was used to. It should be an easy fight, but she had troubles calming down. Logically she understood it was because of the alcohol, you could only suppress so much of its effect. But when it came to emotions… Normally she struggled to keep a lid on her anger, with a few drinks in her body.. it was impossible.

"Come on!" She shouted and focused only on the man and his blade in front of her. She didn't hear Pallin shouting behind her. She faked a couple of lounges towards him and each time he jumped and tried to stab at her at the same time. She kept shouting at him. Telling him grow a pair. Insulting his mother, father, sister and brother.

By the time he actually tried to attack her several C-Sec officers had joined them. There were no longer any escape for this man. Which only made him more nervous and desperate. When his eyes once again trailed off towards the officers Shepard lounged at him.

She managed to grab the wrist of his hand and bend the knife away from herself. But that's when panic took complete hold over the man and the struggle for survival began. The fell down on the lawn, and there seemed to be limbs everywhere. An officer suggested a stun gun to Pallin but he shook his head. There was a good chance they would hit Shepard. And even if it didn't kill her, it would still have looked bad for C-Sec to take down a Spectre. That and… he wasn't sure of how she would react when she woke up after it. It probably wouldn't be pleasant.

The decision would prove to be the correct one. After a few minutes Shepard eneded up on top of him. Her knee pushing his face into the ground and an arm twisted behind his back. The man screamed in pain and pleaded for himself.

"And Stay Down!" She screamed at him with his knife in her hand, flustered and red from the fight.  
"We'll take it from here." Pallin waved for two officers to take over. For a moment it looked like she would refuse to give him up. She had placed the knife on his cheek and was pushing it harder and harder against his skin. "Commander!" Palling shouted and she stopped.  
"Lucky little shit." She hissed into his ear, barely audible, then stood up. She didn't bother brushing herself off, just stood still and watched as they dragged the man away, reading him his rights.  
"You're bleeding." Pallin broke the silence and nodded towards her arm when she turned her eyes to him. She turned her head and raised her hand to the wound when she saw the gash on her left upper arm.  
"God dammit." She watched her red-tipped fingers and rubbed them together.  
"So…" He said, starting off towards the house and she followed him. "'When you're a biotic, you're never unarmed' Was it?" He smiled wryly.  
She turned her head towards him with the same grave looking face, but it only lasted a few seconds before her face broke into a smile and she laughed.  
"Aaah fuck it. Everyone needs to bleed once in a while anyway." She shook her head. "God I need to pee."

* * *

An hour later at C-Sec headquarters Pallin was piecing the scenario together when one of his men, a female turian, stepped up to him.  
"Sir?"  
"What is it?"  
"It's the.. Spectre's report." She handed over a datapad to him.  
Pallin sighed when he received it. He probably should have seen this coming. Written by someone who doesn't answer to anyone it was doomed to be a mess of words.  
"How bad is it?" He selected the file with the correct case number and started reading.  
"Uh, not at all, Sir. It's… damn near perfect."  
"What?" He looked up.  
"I wasn't even there and I understand perfectly what happened. Well, from her point of view I suppose."  
So he looked down and kept reading, scrolled and was genuinely surprised. As she'd said, it was perfect. Good structure, an easy language without sounding amateuristic, leaving little room for doubt. Beside that, she had made it sound as if it had been her following a lead from the beginning. Leaving him completely without responsibilities.  
"Where is she now?"  
"She said to tell you she'd be waiting by the elevator."  
"Thank you." He nodded and handed over the pad again. "You can process this."  
"Yes sir."

Having nothing left to do that couldn't wait until the next day he headed over to the elevator himself. Just as the officer said, she waited there. Her arms crossed and leaning against the wall.  
"Commander."  
"XO."  
"Where the hell did you learn to write a report like that?"  
"I thought you'd like it." She smirked. "I grew up with two parents on active military duty. I've been writing reports since I was five."  
"That's interestin."  
"Noo. That's a pain in the ass."  
"Kat?" They both looked over to the man who interrupted them. It was an older man, dressed in C-Sec uniform. In the corner of his eye Pallin noted that Shepard stood up properly with a straight back.  
"Wilson! What a surprise to see you here, and in C-Sec uniform." She met his hand and shook it firmly.  
"Yes, my son decided he wanted to become a politician, so I moved with him here. Never worked out though. He's running a store in the wards now."  
"He's better off with a store than pushing papers if you asked me."  
"Damn straight." He agreed with a smile. "I heard you got through the program, congratulations."  
"Thank you sir."  
"Did they give you hell?"  
"Well, you know what they do to us Shepards in the military." She smiled and the man laughed.  
"True enough. How is Hannah nowadays?"  
"Serving as XO on the Kilimanjaro."  
"I shouldn't be surprised." He nodded. "She'll never leave the Alliance, will she?"  
"I sincerely doubt it Sir."  
"I sure hope not. Give her my regards, will you?"  
"Of course."  
"Good to see you, commander."  
"Good to see you too, Wilson."

Pallin mused at the fact that when she was confronted with this man, clearly an acquaintance from the Alliance, she transformed into something that could be called a soldier. A proper posture, a respectful reply… He decided not to mention it.  
"The program?" He asked when the man was out of earshot.  
"The N7 program." She answered. "It's sort of like a Special Ops training program. The best of the best, that sort of thing."  
"So…" He tilted his head slightly and looked her up and down. "You're the best humanity has to offer?"  
"And the worst." She smile spitefully and barely kept from laughing.  
"Commander." He suddenly had an idea, a stupid idea his sense told himself. But a very curious part of himself wanted to act on it, and it screamed for him to _live a little_. "When do they need you back?"  
"Well, they won't leave without me."  
"You care for a beer?"  
Her eyes narrowed as she fixed him, maybe trying to figure out what he meant by it. But she was amused by the thought, and nodded.  
"Sure, why the hell not."

* * *

For the second time this evening Shepard found herself in an elevator along with Pallin. She was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and eyes fixed on the door, occasionally following the floors whooshing by. Only faintly picking up the voice of the news anchor, but had no idea what was being said. Shepard saw herself as a pretty good judge of character, and Palling had pretty much acted the way she anticipated all evening. Up until the moment he asked her out. Or was that even what happened? Were they going to a bar or his own home? She'd know in a moment, but she couldn't help to curiously wonder about where this was going.  
"So, XO…"  
"My name isn't really XO, you know."  
"Really?" She tried to look genuinely surprised. "I thought we were going by titles here. Since _my_ name isn't really Commander."  
"Alright, fair enough." He admitted. "What do you want me to call you?"  
"Actually Commander is just fine. Or Shepard, it seems to be what goes around."  
"And what's your real name?"  
"Kitten Mac Shepard." She said with a straight face, observing his reactions closely. Smirking when he tried the name.  
"K-Kitten? Your name is…"  
"Yeah. My dad used to be a hippy, it shows in the weirdest ways. So my first name is a fluffy cute little hairball."  
"Kitten…" He tried the name again, clearly struggling with it.  
"Seriously, Shepard will do just fine." She said with a laugh.  
"Hrrm." He nodded, a bit relieved. "My name is Venari Pallin."  
"I know."  
The elevator stopped and the turian seemed to eagerly leave the elevator, and that conversation, behind.  
"It's this way."

* * *

"Whoa. This isn't bad. This isn't bad at _all_."  
Pallin was satisfied with her reaction to his apartment. And for the first time in a long while he was happy that he had too much work to have time to mess up the apartment.  
It was a large spacey apartment, high ceiling, bright colours with furniture mostly in red, dark blue and black.  
But it was the decorations that caught her eye. Not unexpectedly it was a military theme. Framed pictures, medallions, diplomas and a large picture of his colonies insignia. A white insignia on a black background. Shepard moved up to a display case and got a large grin on her face.

"Seriously, Pallin?" She glanced at him.  
"What?"  
"You collect toys?"  
"Those aren't toys." He stated with a firm voice and joined her at the glass case. "These are top quality models."  
"Relax." She laughed. "I collect them to. Or wanted to. Doesn't really have a place of my own to keep 'em." Her eyes moved over the models with a smile on her face. It was exclusively models of turian ships.  
"You like ships?"  
"Love them." She answered without hesitation. "I grew up on ships. Moving from one to the other when my parents station changed."  
"That can't have been too easy."  
"Naah, I loved it. New ships, new places. Never getting too bad a reputation among the other kids. What's this?"  
"That's the Verrikan." Pallin looked at the frigate Shepard was pointing at. "The flagship of our Eighth fleet. She's seen more battles than I can recall, and came victorious out of most of them."  
"She's beautiful." She said straightening her back again. "They all are." She nodded unconsciously.  
"How about that beer?"  
"Yeah sure."

Pallin headed out to the kitchen while Shepard moved to the living room. She found a pad which she took up and it proved to be the controller for the tv. Switching it on she whistled as the wall turned into a huge screen. Looking through the channels she called out a "No way!" And seconds later the screen pictured a game of ice hockey. Looking up at the screen her jaw dropped.  
"I see you found something." Pallin haded over a bottle and she gave him a huge grin.  
"I haven't seen a game in… I have no idea how long."  
"So you're a sports person?" He managed to have her sit down in the sofa.  
"Not really. But mom fed me with hockey since I was born. So it's a bit like… coming home, I suppose." Shepard frowned on the emotional tone the conversation took. And she shouted at the screen, something about a bullshit penalty, then took the first sip out of the bottle she'd been handed.  
It was already at the third period in the game. But by the end of it Pallin knew all he ever would need to know about ice hockey in his life. And since her team seemed to have been victorious, she wouldn't shut up about it either.  
"Another one?" He asked and standing up at the same time, nodding at the bottle.  
"Yeah, sure." Shepard watched him turn and head towards the kitchen, then decided she couldn't just sit idle and wait for things to happen. So she got up and followed him.

When Pallin turned around with a bottle in each hand he found Shepard leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms. Silently watching him.  
"Shepard." He confirmed a bit startled. "Are you looking for-"  
"No." She cut him off. Her eyes narrowed but she still couldn't read turian body language. It was time to resort to being blunt. "I really don't know anything about turian custom, but for us _humans_ it means something when a man invites a woman home after an evening of… chasing and taking down a terrorist cell." She shifted her weight, walked up to him and placed a hand on the counter. Looking into his eyes with a certain… dare to them. "Earlier I took the opportunity to kiss you. Not because it was the best thing to do, but because I was curious… I'm still curious."  
Slowly, he put down both of the opened bottles, then turned his attention to her. He took a small step, closing the distance between them. He looked into her eyes, a bit startled by their intensity. It seemed humans carried all their emotions in their eyes. Shepard wasn't an exception. Pallin thought it could be easy to lose oneself in such eyes. If only for one single night.  
"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ask."  
Satisfied, she smiled, took hold of the collar of his clothing and pulled his head down to hers. His talon fingers took a grip around her jaw.  
"A fair warning." She breathed. Almost annoyed herself by the interruption. "I don't play nice."  
"Oh." He said wrapping his other arm around her waist. "I think I can take you."  
She blinked and her almost colourless gray eyes widened. He could feel the vibration throughout her body as she chuckled softly.  
"Oh." She answered and pushed herself towards him. "You can't"  
And Pallin tasted the softness of human pink tissue for the first time in his life.

* * *

The next morning Palling woke up to an empty bed. On one of the nightstands laid a note, handwritten on a piece of paper, that he had to scan and translate before he could understand it properly.

_Don't worry, it's human custom to leave before the day breaks. Seeing there's always daytime on the citadel, you'll find me long gone.  
I had fun._

Short, simple, to the point. It was what he could've expected from a soldier. He rolled over on his back and took a deep breath.

_Fun_

He didn't find the word quite adequate to describe the hours he had spent in bed with the Commander.

_Unforgettable _

Closer, yet not quite there. He got up, headed out towards the kitchen. Flipped on the news and listened after a report on yesterdays bust. It didn't take long until he heard the voice of a female reporter.

"My name is Emily Wong, and I'm here to bring you a fresh report from the Spectre who yesterday helped bring down a terrorist cell that targeted turian politicians, here on the Citadel. Let's hear what the Commander herself has to say."  
"A source had alerted me to the possibility of hostiles, I shared my intel with C-Sec's XO, and he verified my sources. After that it was an easy call to make. The XO handled the attack, I was only there for backup. Now I need to go. There's a galaxy that needs to be saved."

He could imagine how she looked deadly serious while making the last comment. Meaning every syllable. While the public would take it as just another exaggerated move from the first and only human Spectre. Pallin shook his head. In all of this, he had somehow ended up being used as a trick to give the Commander a little extra good publicity.  
Oh well, he pondered, still worth it.

* * *

Shepard returned to the Normandy and barely got through the airlock before she ordered Joker to get 'the bird up in the air'.  
To which Joker made a snappy reply about there not being any oxygen in space for a bird to fly in. The commander ignored the comment and continued to the CIC, headed for the galaxy map and set their next destination.

She checked her inbox and flagged a mail for later reading, then heading towards her own private quarters.

There, she set down the bag she had been carrying and took out a small box from it. She sat down and opened it and carefully took out its content.  
Grinning slightly she let her fingers carefully caress the model of the turian cruiser Verrikan. She wondered how long it would take before Pallin discovered that she had… relieved him of it.  
"Thanks for the memories." She whispered and sat it down on her desk.

* * *

_Thanks for reading. You have my gratitude!_

_Don't forget to drop a comment in the reviews._


End file.
